Christmas Crash (not cash)

You can never tell how these holidays are going to turn out. You can prepare, plan, and try to have everything ready and then life will sometimes throw a curve ball at you. Saturday found us trying to wrap up our preparations for Christmas when Sarah said that she wasn't feeling well. She complained of a sore throat and when we checked her temperature it was 103. Not the best way to be getting ready for Christmas. On top of that, Rebekah's finger was looking infected where she had been biting at her cuticle. I took them both in to urgent care to see a doctor. They confirmed that Sarah has strep throat and Rebekah's finger was infected. They prescribed an anti-biotic and we were on our way.

JJ came home for Christmas Eve, had dinner, and went to church with the family. The kids missed him and were happy to see him. We all got to open a present after Church and they all seemed to enjoy that. We managed to get everyone off to bed at a good time and worked on our "last minute" touches. We went down in the morning to find Dominic and Christopher asleep on the floor in front of the Christmas tree next to their stockings. I guess they were eager! We got everyone up and began the unwrapping. They all enjoyed their gifts and I got busy making our breakfast. Before too long Christopher began complaining that his stomach hurt.

Well, as you can guess, Christopher managed to get strep throat as well. He was throwing up and so Leslie had to get him bundled up and take him in to Seattle Children's Hospital since the ER was about the only option to be seen today. They gave him antibiotics and medicine to keep him from throwing up so that we could be sure he would keep his seizure medication down. While they were away, JJ left to spend the remainder of Christmas with his newly adopted family. We didn't feel like making the big Christmas dinner at this point since one of our big eaters was gone and another one sick. We had chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for Christmas meal, but boy was the preparation a lot simpler. We're hoping to have our Christmas meal a bit later in the week when hopefully everyone is feeling better. Ah, the joys of having a big family! I hope Christmas was wonderful for all of you. It certainly was memorable for us!

Shopping Fever (Updated)

I hope all of you have your Christmas shopping done. What's that you ask? Do I have all of my Christmas shopping done? How could you ask such a question? Of course I don't have it all done! I actually have most of it done, but there are still some "stocking stuffers" that I plan on getting.

You should have been there to see my shopping trip with Rebecca, Sarah, and Christopher. I took them into Seattle over the weekend and showed them around "downtown". I took them to see the fancy display windows at Macy's and all the decorations. They all had a great time riding on the Carousel. I took them into some stores so that they could help me pick out some Christmas gifts for mommy. Boy, those girls are BORN with the shopping sense. Rebekah wanted to buy just about everything for mommy and wanted to try everything on. Sarah was concerned with how things would look on mom and helped guide the choices. Between the girls and Christopher, they managed to find something for mom that she should like. They then had a great time riding the escalators up and down in the store!

For those of you that haven't heard, the other Christmas "surprise" for us was that JJ decided to "move out". While I was taking Leslie to the airport last week, he called and told me that he would be moving some things over to his friend's house. When I got home he was gone, and we haven't seen him since then. We've spoken to him and he tells us that he will be living there. We don't know how long he is planning to stay, but they are MUCH MORE LENIENT then we are and I'm sure that this is appealing to him. We'd like for him to come home, but he is 18 now and we can't make him come home. We're still trying to figure out what is the best response to this, so keep us in your prayers. Teenagers! They make me crazy sometimes. One thing is for sure, we've decided to make some shopping/gift changes for JJ at this point. We plan on making his gifts much more practical as opposed to fun. I think John's siblings are all hoping that they will get a "new room" as a Christmas present...

Pioneer Days

Well, we made it. Last Thursday I had to make some quick changes, but still managed to get Leslie on a plane and off to California for her family's family Christmas party. That was the beginning of an eventful few days. Rebekah was sick and so I wasn't going to be able to put her into day care. She also would need lots of extra love and care.

After getting Leslie onto the plane I got a call from a vendor as I made my way over to pickup the kids from school. He asked if I was ready for the big wind storm that was heading our way. I had only vaguely heard that it was coming and I asked him if I should be concerned about it. He snorted and said that the weather service was predicting it would be the worst wind storm the area had seen for decades. I veered over to Costco and picked up a pack of extra "D" batteries in case I'd need them. My second bit of fun came when JJ called me on my cell phone and told me that he would be moving some of his things over to Taylor's house. Did I mention it was JJ's 18th birthday? Well, he was apparantly making good on his statement that he would be moving out when he turned eighteen. I told him Happy Birthday, and that I loved him and asked him to call me when he knew more of what he was going to do. I finally made it home with the kids and made it through all the coaxing, reminding, supervising, yelling, and heavy sighs that make up our nightly routines of homework, dinner, cleanup and bedtime. After giving Rebekah some motrin for her fever and getting ready for bed the power went out.

Friday started off with the day being dim and overcast and no power for lights. I couldn't find a battery powered radio for news, but managed to fire up my laptop with a test "cellular" card that let me get an Internet connection and get some news. The news was that over 1 million people were without power. I also found that all of the kids schools were closed. It would have been a fun time with the kids except that Rebekah was ill. I wound up having to use my cell phone since the home phone wasn't working. The kids liked the time off school and enjoyed all the candles burning for extra light. I wouldn't let anyone open the fridge and kept hoping that the power would come back on before we had to ditch the contents. The good news was that we made it through the day without too much complaining. The kids had a chance to catch up on their reading and some board games. I got them all to bed at a good time and with some high hopes that the power would come back on. At 4 in the morning the lights came on in my bedroom and woke me up. I didn't mind it one bit....

Christmas Countdown Beginning

I spent the weekend in Arizona and it was a nice change from the rain and clouds that are normal for home at this time of year. I was in AZ for my work's annual Disaster Recovery test. Everything went well and the boss was pleased. I had a lively dinner on Friday evening with my "Band of Brothers". I had a great time and haven't laughed so much in months. I spent the remainder of the weekend with my good friend Jim and his family catching up on what's been going on with each other and just enjoying the company. I look forward to these trips and the only thing that could have made it better would have been if Leslie had been able to come along for the visit.

I'm now down to the last couple of days before Leslie travels to California for her family Christmas party. I will have all the kids by myself from Thursday afternoon until midday Monday. I hope that I can keep the schedule straight and still manage to get to work! It will be interesting since Rebekah is being so clingy lately. She has come to the door repeatedly tonight while I am trying to write and begged to come in and talk to Mommy. The transition of Leslie being in school has been the toughest on Rebekah. She was used to being at the center of mommy's attention and now has had to contend with pre-school and day care. She likes school, but she seems to need mommy more now. I'm hoping that she won't be too upset while Leslie is away.

I'm struggling to put something together to send out with Christmas cards this year. Last year we were just so overwhelmed that we never managed to send out many cards. I'm hoping to get the letter done and the outside Christmas lights up before Leslie's return. Wish me luck.

Crazy as Usual

It seems like we have at least one minor emergency every week/weekend. This weekend it was Rebekah's turn. She was changing and brought her clothes down in front of the fireplace to get dressed and "warm up". I had other kids at the table when I heard her crying. She was trying to warm up her backside and leaned back to the fire. Our fireplace is a gas burning type with a glass front cover, but the glass can get quite hot. Well, you guessed it, she managed to burn her bottom. The poor thing was crying so much. I had to apply ice and give Tylenol before she quieted down.

Now comes the hectic, crazy, over-scheduled holidays that we all love. I have to go back to Arizona for some business travel and so will be gone from the family from this Wednesday till Sunday morning. Leslie will be flying back to California the following Thursday the 14th and will be coming back on Monday the 18th. Of course between our trips we still have to complete our Christmas shopping and keep the kids clean and fed! Pray for us.

Despite all the crazyness, we are all looking forward to Christmas. My old friend Colleen will be coming up from Portland with her son Kieth to spend the Christmas holidays with us. So there will be 7 kids and 3 adults gathering around the tree. It allways brings back memories of when we were kids and the excitment comes rushing back. I hope that everyone gets to experience just a little bit of that this Christmas.

On a sad note, I am reminded how unpredicatable life is and how you never know where it can go. I received an email today about a person that used to work for me here in Seattle. I had to let him go last year, but he wasn't a bad guy. The email today was to inform people of his wife's death on Nov 27th. She died either giving birth or shortly after the birth of their first child, a daughter. What a bittersweet event that this birth is for him. My prayers go out to him and his family and I hope that he can find some comfort during the holidays. I hope to enter this Advent Season with a sense of thankfulness for my family and a renewed committment to pay more attention to what really matters. Take Care.....